The present invention relates to parlor games in general and in particular to the building up of a sports team or the like and the playing of a season with the sports team acquired, while continuously changing the composition of the team depending upon existing circumstances. The game may be played by any number of participants, although normally play is best when there is an even number of participants.
There is a wide variety of prior art board games in which participants utilize a combination of luck and skill to amass capital, complete pictures, acquire the most points, etc., such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,026,082 and 3,817,531, and British Patent No. 687,840. Such games achieve various degrees of success depending upon how wide their appeal is, the prolonged interest they can generate, how much variety there is in the play, how closely they approximate real-life systems, and to what degree one can acquire expertise through prolonged play. It is believed that the game according to the present invention is a game which will have a wide appeal since it can be played by participants of all ages, does generate prolonged interest, has a large amount of variety in the play, closely approximates real-life sport franchising and thereby appeals to people both with an interest in sports and an interest in "ownership" and capital, and has a good combination of luck and skill so that a modicum of expertise can be acquired through prolonged play.
The key principles and components of the game according to the present invention are the provision of a player board, distinct from the game board, for each participant, with the ability to build up a composition of player pieces on the player boards to participate in head-to-head competition with other participants, the provision of one chance means to advance pieces around the game board, and the provision of another chance means, which is utilized according to indicia on the game board, to provide for the selection of player pieces for the player boards. No other parlor games hae such a combination of principles, and it is believed that the combination of such principles provides a game that has all the desirable attributes mentioned above.
The game according to the present invention includes a game board with a plurality of consecutive playing sections arranged thereon (each of the playing sections having indicia associated therewith), a plurality of movable game pieces for movement from section to section of the game board, a plurality of player boards (one for each participant) and a plurality of player pieces for the player boards. At least two different indicia (e.g., different colors) are provided for distinguishing two distinct types of player pieces, and the indicia correspond to point values for those pieces. Chance means are provided for advancing the movable pieces around the game board from section to section, and separate chance player piece selection means are provided, having indicia thereon corresponding to the indicia for distinguishing between the at least two distinct types of player pieces. Selected playing sections on the game board have indicia indicating that the chance player piece selection means may be employed. Preferably, the player piece selection means are cards, the cards having two sets of indicia thereon, the color indicia corresponding to indicia distinguishing between the distinct types of player pieces, and indicia determining the placement of a player piece in a certain row on a player board. When sports franchising is the format of the game according to the invention, the player boards are divided into three distinct areas-- "Field", "Bench" and "Injury", providing for simulation of actual conditions existing in a sports franchise situation. Also, each participant utilizes a given amount of money in building up his team, and in meeting various expenses of the team. Participants compete against each other in head-to-head competition during individual league games, the league games collectively comprising a season and the participant with the best won/lost record at the end of the season being the winner. The playing sections on the game board are disposed in a continuous path having one section thereof indicating the start of play in a round, and one complete traversal of the continuous path of playing sections by a movable game piece constituting one round.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a parlor game that is enjoyable to play in general, and in particular simulates the building up of a professional sports team and the participation in a season with the sports team. This and other objects of the invention will become apparent from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.